//Not gonna lie. I had to type all of this sh*t again by hand because there is no copy and paste feature on WN. You're all lucky I want to continue this novel.
Take a second to imagine a scenario.
From the moment you're born, you are cursed with some of the worst luck imaginable. The moment you came into the world, fate dealt you a hard blow by granting you the worst of destinies. Your very existence becomes dangerous to those around you and even the most common activity such as walking along the sidewalk can potentially cause others and yourself to become seriously injured be it for a car malfunction or some other unlucky event.
Have you imagined it?
Now, if faced with such a scenario, what would you do? How would you cope? Can you pick yourself up and make the best of what you have, even after life threatens you over and over again or do you just lay down and give up? Can you say for certain that you'll even have the strength to push forward? Would you even have the ability to see the positive sides through it all?
This is the story of a particular fellow cursed with the shittiest luck you'll ever find. However, he's strong, smart, optimistic to an insane degree, and has a thirst for survival that few could ever hope to match.
This is the story of Zetuo Testsuya and his journey to find his place in a life that has already rejected him.
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BOOM!
The rumble of thunder, a sound loud enough to cause windows to quake, echoed throughout the city of New York as drops of water rained down unceasingly from the dark grey clouds positioned above. Lightning occasionally pierced through the sky in brief, consecutive flashes, illuminating everything in its vicinity with a bright glow.
It was a rather black day and, despite how dark it was due to the ongoing thunderstorm, it was only around noon. The vast cloud coverage ensured that little to no light was able to pass through as the wind continued to whip the water around, making it near impossible to see anything a few feet in front of oneself. In fact, the storm had gotten so bad, that the majority of traffic had ceased to move, many instead hunkering where they were, watching the intense weather from the safety of their cars or buildings. Little to no one could be found outside due to the severity of the storm, even most homeless people had managed to seek out appropriate shelter, hiding out under bridges or public buildings such as gyms and libraries.
As people everywhere stayed inside, waiting for the rain to lighten up, a small, comparatively insignificant event was taking place near the edge of the city, next to rather large apartment complexes, all of which appeared to be abandoned and out of use. Not a single soul was on sight except for a small youth with pitch black hair, even parker eyes, and a small mob of six men following lose behind. It was unclear if they were shouting as the pouring rain drowned out all other sounds, but it was apparent that they all possessed some degree of malice as they struggled to keep pace with the speed the young man was running at.
The dark haired youth darted around the buildings and headed towards the woods situated nearby, his breathing erratic as he struggled to maintain his distance from the men behind him.
Zetuo wasn't even sure how he had gotten himself into the particular situation. Up until that point, he had been especially careful about where he walked and what was going on around him. For him to screw up and walk onto this sight of a murder scene was possibly the worst event that had happened to him in this week alone. It would have made the top play of the month had it not been had it not been for the fat that, just last week, he had been drugged and captured by some pedophile who got off on torture and screams. Obviously he had managed to escape but not without quite a bit of blood and violence involving a glass bottle, rope, and a conveniently placed Desert Eagle.
A dark did he live. It had been this way since he was born. Everything, even the most normal situations, would end messed up to some degree, be it minor or major.
Bad luck aside, the events happening today was, for the most part, his own fault. Leaving the orphanage an hour before a major storm purely because he wanted to walk for a bit was admittedly a stupid choice. Even if one didnt take into account his unending tide of extremely unfortunate life experiences, exiting the relative safety of a sturdy concrete building and into an intense, borderline hurricane level storm was all kinds of retarded. He himself acknowledged this fact, but he still didnt regret his decision, even as he sprinted along, jumping over piles of scattered trash and dodging sharp pieces of rusty metal.
Granted, getting chased by others wasn't something inherently pleasant nor anything to laugh about, but Zetuo had experienced MUCH worse situations then the current one. He had genuinely wanted to go for a stroll and, even though he was wet, cold and being hunted, he had actually enjoyed his walk.
The youth had come a long way. At this point, he wasn't particularly phased by something small like running away from individuals out for his head nor was he deterred by the strong winds or bullet sized water droplets constantly getting whipped into his face. Sure he was out of breath and could've used a moment to rest, but this was something he could control, a situation in which he could potentially manage the next series of events
The only truly terrible scenarios were the ones he was unprepared for, the ones where his control was gone and he could only rely on luck, something that, for himself, had never existed in the first place.
(("Luck can go screw itself at this point. Who needs something so trivial.")) Zetuo slowed down slightly and glanced back ever so briefly. (("Still though, my first priority should be shaking these guys off my scent. With this weather, I should be able to give them the slip."))
The rain made it quite hard to judge the distance, but the small group looked to be quite a ways behind, them having fallen back a significant amount since the chase had begun. If Zetuo had to guess, he only had to run into the woods to completely lose their trace and force them to quit the search.
He wasn't even sure why they had initially chased him. Due to his young age, if he had informed the police about what he had seen, they wouldn't have done much other than to be suspicious of the perpetrators. If the culprits were to rid the body and clean the evidence, though they would still be suspect to some questions, the officers would begin to doubt the validity of Zetuo's words. Eventually, assuming the cops found nothing, everything would be seen as merely that of a youth active imagination before being pushed to the back of everyone's mind. The logical option was to stay behind and destroy all incriminating details pointing themselves and disregard the running youth.
But of course, this would require them to possess a modicum of brainpower and for Zetuo to possess enough good fortune for them to dismiss his presence. Neither of these things existed which was yet another reason the young man was springing for his life.
Blinking rapidly, Zetuo ceased his internal thoughts, instead focusing fully on the surrounding area, attempting to analyze the best way to ditch his small entourage.
From what he could see, he had about three options.
The first one was to make a Uturn and double back, using the rain as a sort of cover to slip by them. The chance of success was a low medium to a small high. This option allowed him to shake his pursuers while simultaneously heading home. It was a tempting option but he ruled it out after a quick debate. He didnt want to take the risk of running into them nor take the risk of them noticing and following him back to his house.
The second one was to stop and fight them, utilizing his reflexes and fighting prowess to fend them off. If everything went according to plan then he could probably knock over two of them before bolting away, though this plan was rather iffy. He didnt want to end up confronting them head on without some sort of plan that guaranteed his victory, reason being that anything could happen to disrupt him. Even something small like a muddy ground could he a hindrance and Zetuo wasn't willing to take that chance, having dealt with multiple situations of the same caliber and learning from past experience. The chance of success was low to nonexistent and it was best to avoid it entirely.
The third and best option was to use the woods in front of him to his advantage. Having grown up near this part of the neighborhood, the youth was familiar with the surrounding woodland area and could navigate like and old pro. The odds of losing them in it was almost a guarantee, topping out at a cool 95% chance of getting the hell away from these lunatic.
There were other plans that flashed through his head, but these three had been the main ones to stand out. So, after a literal second of contemplation, he put on speed and darted into the woods, never looking back.
The moment Zetuo disappeared into the dense foliage, the space bordering the forest shimmered, a ripple passing through it. For the briefest instance, the rain froze in place, the forest disappeared and the image of a tall wooden fence and a large sturdy gate appeared. Just beyond this gate, one could see rows of old looking houses as well as dirt roads with a few people walking around. The picture wavered slightly before dispersing completely and everything returned to how it had been before, the scene of rain
While this had been an amazing spectacle, one that had been caught by the pursuing murders, Zetuo hadn't the slightest clue as to what had happened. He was still moving, hurtling over bushes and slipping around the trees, his senses made dull by the pouring rain. His only thoughts were on navigation, his eyes on the constant lookout for the spot where he needed to turn, an old looking Oak tree being his landmark.
After several minutes of running though, when he was unable to spot it, he began to feel a bit uneasy as he slowed down ever so slightly. The rain poured down his face, impairing his vision quite a bit as he struggled to find the large tree.
Just when he was about to circle back and double check, his stomach dropped and his heart rate accelerated beyond healthy levels. A sort of ringing appeared in his ears and he felt an itch on his right palm. Without even thinking about his next move, the young man dove forward, rolling into a crouch.
The rain, which had been pouring up until this point, stopped altogether as Zetuo glanced towards where he had been standing, a shiny object sticking out of the mud. Another moment and he'd have been stabbed in the back, struck down before even realizing what had happened.
"Damn, I didn't expect them to catch up to me so fast." He muttered as he pulled out a small pocket knife. "Oh well, I needed a workout anyways."
Zetuo stayed in his spot, kneeling low with his knife pointed directly in front of him. He absolutely hated violence to his very core, but he wasn't afraid to kill anyone if they became an obstacle to his own goal of living to see tomorrow. Having lived this long, the black haired youth had learned that indecisiveness would only lead to his death and the quickest way to ensure his own survival was to be stronger, quicker, and/or more skilled then his opponent.
The one who utilized his own strengths and knowledge wouldn't be guaranteed a victory but it DID raise the chances significantly. This is what he sought, what he wanted.
To live to see tomorrow.
Now, as he waited for the attacker to reveal himself, Zetuo began to plan his next move. In order for him to push forth, he had to constantly know his next course of action, lest the bad luck make one for him.
Before he could make his next move however, something struck him om the side of the neck, a stinging sensation following close behind it. Before he realized what had hit him, the young man passed out. The last thing Zetuo saw before the darkness swallowed him were three figures dressed up in similar outfits and donning Kirin masks.
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It just didn't make any sense, not even a little.
Jizuna Yamanaka stared at the floating sphere of water positioned before him, a see through ball of liquid with ripples spreading around it, no part being left unscathed as it hovered a few feet above a rather large basin. Small circles appeared along the numerous points of impact before spreading outwards, giving the appearance of a shivering orb as more and more large water was scattered around the outer layer.
Jizuna couldnt so much as speak, his brain momentarily stalled as the ripples continued. Even as the two individuals standing beside him began to take action, calling out to the group of five perched on the second floor landing, he was unable to process the current series of events. It was all happening much too fast and too abruptly for him to take any cognitive action against the current predicament, his own body refusing to budge an inch.
Being particularly new to the job, someone who had only recently started around a week ago, he was unprepared on how to deal with his current problem. When he had first started, he figured it would be rather easy and he wouldn't have to do very much other than sit there while occasionally feeding intel to the Interception Team, the ones responsible for cutting off the intruders/unexpected visitors from entering Konoha. The last thing he had been ready for was so many ripples to appear, indicating a rather large group of unknowns had begun to enter the Village.
The floating sphere represented the barrier that surrounded the Hidden Leaf, a barrier thats sole purpose was to indicate and accurately pinpoint the exact location and number of unwanted guests. It was his job as a member of the Yamanaka clan and a member of the Detection Division to manage and pass along the gathered intelligence to the Interception Team so they could run out and put a stop to whoever it was.
In the past week, numerous people had come and gone, but the majority of them had simply been visitors from other small scale towns and minor villages. Up until today, nothing major had happened, lulling Jizuna into a false sense of security, one that only now proved to be detrimental to his current job.
"Jizuna!"
A sharp slap on the shoulder was all it took to bring the young man back to reality, causing him to jump to his feet. His bright blue eyes shifted from the quivering sphere of water and onto his fellow clan member, Shinto Yamanaka, an older gentleman who had been doing this a few years longer then most others. In terms of experience, Shinto was easily the best in terms of utilizing and keeping track of info regarding the barrier surrounding Konoha.
"Jizuna, I need you to stay here and keep tabs on the barrier," Shinto said as he removed hia hand from Jizuna's shoulder. "I need to hurry back and report as much as possible to the Village. This is an emergency procedure and I need to know if you can handle it."
Jizuna looked back at the sphere, the ripples continuing to fluctuate in random, unorderly patterns. It was unclear if it was a malfunction in the barrier but, even if it was, it was still necessary to treat it as a genuine threat. As much as he wanted to decline, this needed to be done in order to maintain the safety of the Village.
"You can count on me."
After staring for a few more seconds, Shinto nodded and pulled away, gesturing to the third member to follow. The two of them left together, exiting the building they had been in at superhuman speeds, practically sprinting towards the exit.
Under normal circumstances, the Detection Division would remain in the building and stay alert for any more nefarious activity that might go on. However, in extreme situations such as now, every available ninja would be used to fend off the threat, leaving only one person to continue maintaining and watching over the barrier.
"It looks like hell from where I'm standing," Shinto muttered as he moved back to his original position in front of the floating sphere. The ripples remained without any hint of ceasing. "I hope everyone makes it out okay."